Nihility
by angelwolf123
Summary: The summoning circle was supposed to match a person with the spirit most compatible to them. Orihime ended up with a six inch tall Hollow. Trouble is, things aren't always what they seem.


**DISLAIMER: I own nothing, NOTHING, I TELL YOU!**

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**[NI-HI-LI-TY]-** _Noun _

nonexistence; nothingness

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**Chapter 1:**

Orihime stared at the snake-like creature before her, grey eyes widened in a mixture of shock and revulsion. It's bone-white mask and luminescent red eyes were only inches away from her rapidly paling face.

"B-big... brother...?" Orihime managed to forced the words, but they came out strained. She didn't want to know the answer. She didn't want to-

"_Orihime._"

The said girl stiffened, her pupils dilating as she took in this information. No. There was no way her brother could've become a Hollow, but sure enough, there was the all-too familiar voice buried underneath huskiness and desperation.

"N-no! My brother never would've become a Hollow!" She pleaded, no, _prayed_ that this was a mistake. That he wasn't her brother, that he had learned her name just to freak her out, and that it was a mere coincidence he sound just like _him_...

Orihime had to stifle the hysterical giggle that was bubbling up from some dark place within her. That sounded lame, even to her. But if this monster was her brother, she still needed to know one last thing.

"Why? Why did you let yourself become a Hollow? You know better than that!" She snapped, but instantly regretted it. Orihime drew herself together, wrapping her arms around herself.

"You _know_..."

Of course he knew. _Nobody_ knew better than her older brother. Any onmyouji _knew_ to pass on after death, and her brother was one of the best in the planet. Orihime fisted her hands against her tensed arms. At twenty-seven, 'any onmyouji would've had only one, maybe two shiki under their control. Sora, however, had possessed not one, but _six_. And if that wasn't impressive enough, all six of his shiki were not the standard shinigami, but rare spirits that were rarely spotted and even more difficult to capture. But the thing was, Orihime's brother had managed to convince _all of them_ to contract with him willingly. Willingly.

Orihime swallowed thickly. "Tsubaki." In a flash of blue, the small fairy detached itself from his assigned petals on her hairclips. Twelve petals. Two for each of the spirits she had inherited from her brother upon his death. They wouldn't have been hers if all of them hadn't agreed to contract willingly.

She had to do this. It was her responsibility as an onmyouji to protect the town from evil spirits. A single tear slid down her left cheek, swiftly and silently, before landing on the asphalt with a soft _plip_. The night air should've chilled her, but Orihime felt nothing.

_Even if that evil spirit is my big brother._

The summoned spirit floated closer to his mistress. "Orhime." He gruffly started. "I can't attack him."

Orihime froze. No, this couldn't be happening! She had to save her brother! "What? _Why!?_"

Tsubaki stilled, his tone becoming uncharacteristically mild. "I can't harm my contractor, even if I'm no longer under his command." He looked away. "I'm sorry."

What little color Orihime had left, quickly drained away. If Tsubaki couldn't help her, there was no way she could save her brother. As an onmyouji, she wasn't like a shikigami, where they only relied on themselves to get the job done. She had to count on her summons to channel her spiritual power for her. When a situation came up where they couldn't do so, for whatever reason, there was only one option left to her.

And that was to run.

Wasting no time, Orihime spun around, ignoring the indignant shriek of the Hollow behind her. She had to go, to hurry. Her legs burned as her shoes pounded against the pavement, carrying her further and further away from the fight that she couldn't win. But Orihime knew that if she couldn't save Sora, there was someone else who could. Soul reapers didn't really associate with onmyouji unless they had been contracted, so Orihime had to go seek out another onmyouji, the only one she really knew. It was a good thing her house wasn't far away at all.

Orihime pounded on the door, gasping for breath. She had run pretty far, but she didn't know if she had lost her pursuer or not, if he had even chosen to chase after her in the first place. There was also a good chance he would simply wait for a more opportune time to strike. _Please don't follow me, please be home, oh please be home...!_

When there was no response to her knocking, Orihime sucked in a ragged breath. "Tatsuki! Please let me in!"

The door opened almost instantly. The martial artist gave Orihime an apologetic smile. "Oh! Orihime, it's only you! Sorry I didn't answer the door, I thought you were..." Seeing her best friend's disoriented state, Tatsuki paused, the sentence dying on her lips. "...someone else..."

"Holy crap, Orihime, what happened!? You look horrible!" Orihime was swiftly ushered in, Tatsuki swinging the door shut behind her. "Get in here!"

As her fellow onmyouji set her up in the livingroom, Orihime sighed in relief. Tatsuki was always there for her, and this time would be no different. But meanwhile, the black-haired girl made herself busy.

"Orihime! Don't tell me those weird guys jumped you! You know how everyone's been saying things about girls getting attacked more and more often in this area, and-"

"Tatsuki." Orihime interjected urgently. While she was at loathe to interrupt her best friend, this was extremely important.

The other girl stopped speaking, and blinked in surprise. "Orihime?"

Orange hair fell forward as Orihime slowly tilted her head down, not wanting Tatsuki to see her pained expression.

"My brother is a Hollow now." she said quietly.

Tatsuki froze. "Sora?"

Orihime gave the slightest of nods. "I-I saw him... just now..."

Brows eyes swiftly took in the many scrapes and bruises that marred Orihime's pale form, then widened in understanding. "Don't tell me he..."

Orihime gave a pained noise of consent before exploding into tears. Tatsuki was there, holding the bustier girl as she heaved with sobs.

"Tatsuki, it's all my fault! When he died, I asked him not to leave me alone! _I asked him_!"

The said highschool student gave Orihime a comforting pat on the back. "No, no it's not your fault, Orihime. Your brother of all people knew the risks of lingering after death."

Orihime just cried, feeling some weight she hadn't known she was carrying finally leave her, twisting and tearing at her insides on its way out.

.

Tatsuki took out a generous hunk of her rice ball. "So you're saying that Tsubaki can't purify Sora because your brother was his earlier contractor?"

Orihime nodded, using her chopsticks to move bits of her red pepper dango about her bento. She didn't particularly have much of an appetite after last night's events. It was weird to think that while she was at school eating lunch, her brother was... her brother was...

The black-haired onmyouji suddenly grinned. "Hey, I have an idea!" To this, Orihime looked up but didn't say anything.

"We could think of this as an opportunity for you, ya know? All you need to do is get a shiki for yourself! Easy!:

Orihime's eyes widened. Ever since her brother left her with six (_six!_) shiki of her own three years ago, she had never really had the need to acquire yet another one. Six were difficult enough to handle already!

"Are you sure Tatsuki? I don't even have a summoning circle like you and your family, I don't really think I can pull it off..."

Tatsuki snorted, waving her hand as if to physically banish Orihime's earlier words. "Nah! It's easy, trust me! And you can use mine, don't worry. In fact, come home with me today after school. It's best that we get this issue squared away as soon as possible!"

.

Orihime nervously shifted her weight in front of the raised stone tablet in front of her. It was summoning circle, the official kind, not like the cheap one she had at home. Roughly the size of a hot tub and generating wave after gentle wave of energy, Orihime was more than a little intimidated.

"Tatsuki, I don't want to break it..."

Her friend, who hovered in the background, broke into a grin. "Don't worry Orihime, you need to do this, right?"

"Right..."

"Are you still having doubts!?"

Orihime rubbed her arm. "I-I wouldn't say that... It's just..."

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Just what, exactly?"

The orange haired girl sucked in a breath. "WHAT IF I SUMMON SOME SORT OF ALIEN!? AND THEN IT GOES AROUND DESTROYING THE TOWN! OR- OR A RABID MONSTER KILLER BEAR! THAT WOULD BE HORRIBLE!"

"Orihime, calm down. None of that's going to happen! Just relax. Anyways, you know as well as I do that it's not really your level spiritual power that effects your summon, but your level of determination. In theory, the power your shiki will have is directly linked to your resolve when you summon it." Tatsuki looked over towards Orihime, and sighed. "Listen. Even if you somehow summoned an alien it wouldn't be able to do anything. Whatever you summon with a real summoning circle like this will come pre-packaged and already bound to you."

Orihime took a calming breath, and fisted her hands for an uncertain fighting pose. "Okay, then. I can do this!"

Tatsuki grinned. "Awesome, that's the spirit! I can't be in here during the summoning, but I'll be rooting for you!"

Orihime watched her friend exit the sealed chamber before returning her attention to the task at hand. This was it. This wasn't only just her chance to find a way to save her brother, but it was so much more than that. It was like... like her chance to prove to Tatsuki, prove to Sado and Uryuu and Ichigo and all the others what she was really made of! And plus, she had always been curious about what kind of summon she'd get.

It say that an onmyouji's first shiki could be anything, any sort of spiritual entity that wasn't already somehow bound. Normally, an onmyouji would have to seek out and defeat or persuade potential shiki, but for their first the summon circle would actually _chose_ the spirit best suited for the summoner, would pluck the shiki-to-be from whatever existence it previously had and would bind it to the onmyouji.

To Orihime, it was strange that the most important one was the one that was the most easily acquired. But then again, it wasn't like she was complaining at the moment. Orihime knelt down, and placed her hands on their places on the tablet.

_They say that the strength of your first summon directly relates to your conviction._

Her summon didn't have to be the strongest in the world, and honestly, she didn't really expect it to be. But it did need to be strong. Strong enough to defeat her brother, strong enough to protect her friends, and maybe... if God was feeling generous, then strong enough to let her prove herself, too.

_Not strong. Just strong enough._

She did have conviction. It flowed off on her outstretched hands as a honey golden light, dripping down into the valleys of the tablet's arcane carvings. It filled those carvings, and slowly lit up the room, embracing the dark and dank walls of the sealed chamber. Orihime fed the light, pouring her love for her brother, her friends, and everyone else into this summoning; the summon that was potentially going to be the most important in her entire life.

When the light grew to the point where Orihime had to shut her eyes against its glare, she knew that the summoning had run it's course. Cutting off the feed, Orihime waited for the warmth that surrounded her to subside before even considering to open her eyes once more.

There was a moment of anticipation, as the orange haired girl just let herself sit sightless. Eventually though, the time came for her to gaze upon the all-important summon, the one she had poured her heart and soul into.

She didn't see him at first, he was so small.

Orihime sucked in a breath, and tentatively reached over to grasp the winged being that had sprawled out in the center of the tablet. She pulled him closer to her for inspection, the slight weight he had instantly endearing him to her. A little smaller than her hand, her shiki was obviously disoriented. His leathery wings felt smooth and cool against her palm, while in contrast the black fur that covered the majority his arms and legs was achingly soft. A whiplike tail tipped with a tuft of fur stirred as he struggled to sit up. Yellow eyes centered on black sclera blinked about blearily, and Orihime noticed the tear marks that trailed down his tiny cheeks.

As she touched him, as came his name.

"Ulquiorra..." Orihime cooed.

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**Soo... that's it, folks! I have the story planned out already, and so far it seems like it's only going to be about 6/7 chapters long. Of course, I also have a back-up plan to extend it if it somehow ends up getting reviews, haha. Oh, and just to clear things up, I only know a little bit about what an onmyouji really does, and a lot of this I'm just making up.**

**Onmyouji: (copied directly from wikipedia, I take no credit)**

_Onmyōji_ were specialists in magic and divination. Their court responsibilities ranged from tasks such as keeping track of the calender, to mystical duties such as divination and protection of the capital from evil spirits. They could divine auspicious or harmful influences in the earth, and were instrumental in the moving of capitals. It is said that an _onmyōji_ could also summon and control shinigami.

**Shiki:**

The name of a spirit that is under the control of an onmyouji, but it's not a species. Ulquiorra is now Orihime's shiki, but he's still an arrancar and a hollow.

**Yes, Tatsuki is also an onmyouji, and she has a shinigami as a shiki, who's identity will be revealed in the next chapter. A virtual cookie for anyone who can guess who it is! (oh, and another cookie for the people who point out errors and typos, I like having them fixed) Basically, at the end of the day, Orihime is an onmyouji, and her brother who was also one is now a Hollow. Because Tsubaki can't attack a previous contractor, Orihime has to summon a shiki of her own, which turns out to be a chibi Ulquiorra in his second release.**


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